13 June 2010

Onami

Second time's a charm for Onami.  I was less than impressed with my first visit and had actually heard that the sushi was not that great before I went, but I'm always willing to chalk up a less than stellar experience as a bad night for the chef/server/whomever and give the restaurant another shot if an opportunity arises.  Fortunately for Onami their second chance came less than a week after my first encounter and they managed to redeem themselves.


My introduction to Onami occurred one Friday evening with a friend who had dined there previously.  He ordered the momomi, chicken skewers, which were quite tasty.  I ordered a spicy tuna roll which sadly ended in disappointment.  The seaweed wrap tasted rubbery and the roll itself was lacking fish.  There were eight pieces in the roll but somehow only the four end pieces had any tuna, the other four were filled with veggies. 

The following week I met another set of friends at Onami, chosen for its convenient location in the mall and the live band playing that evening.  I entered hopeful the restaurant would redeem itself and indeed it managed.  I started with a special roll with eel that was good and followed it, hoping for the best, with the same order of a spicy tuna roll of the week before.  This time I was pleasantly surprised to discover my tuna roll was filled with actual fish and no vegetables.  Everyone around the table was pleased by their meal selections and my initial dissatisfaction with Onami has been replaced with cautious approval.  The music and atmosphere was also lively and a fun time was had by all. 

Photo credit: http://www.freerecipes.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/sushi-rolls.jpg

Location: Westgate mall- 2nd floor (that's the 3rd floor for any American readers)
Price: Under 2000 KSH (approx. $25) for hibachi set menus. Typical sushi pricing- from around 300 for veggie rolls to 900 for specialty rolls (approx. $3.75-11.25)
Atmosphere: For a restaurant located in a mall it's classed itself up and is trying for a high end appeal.  They have live music on Thursday nights and a surprisingly large number of people venture up to the dance floor later in the evening. 
Happy hour specials: According to their website they have 400KSH (approx. $5) cocktails and sushi combos for 960KSH (approx. $12) on Tuesdays after 6 pm.

No comments:

Post a Comment